Rigging for the jib of a sailing boat



June 11, 1957 v. G. B. DUPOUY 2,795,203

RIGGING FOR THE JIB OF.A SAILING BOAT Filed Jan. 29, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M-WWW M-i-ormay Barnard Du/w June 11, 1957 v, G B, DUPOUY 2,795,203

. RIGGING FOR THE JIB OF A SAILING BOAT Filed Jan. 29, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 )nven'iofl l/mce/ dgne/ gamm DUPm/Y AHurwey United States Patent Cfiice Patented. June. 1 1, 1.957

It is,known, that. the. front edge. of. the jib'of:a sailing boat, is tensioned, by. means. of a halyard. which starts from the; top. end of. the. jib, passes. around. a pulley mounted. on.- the mast,. descends. again. along the latter and isfastened to, acleat,mounted on the,foot.of the. mast or at a nearby point-f the, deck.- Thehalyard is made fast on. the. cleat. under astrong tension, so, that the front edge of the jib is .well tightenedand bends theleast PQS? sible under the pressure of the wind. Furthermore, in order to, reduce the ,possiblesag of saidedge without having to exert an excessive tension upon the halyard, use is often made. of. a. rope, the so-called stay, which is parallel to-the front edge of the jib and is; fastened at one end-tosthedeck of the boat and at .the.-.other end to;the mast, at a. point near the aforesaidtpulley, said edge of the jib' being attached to this rope by rings which can slide on the latter.

With such a device, the top of the jib is always close to the mast and consequently also close to the mainsail the edge of which is attached along the mast. As a consequence, with certain modes of sailing the prolongation of the zone of pressure formed by the wind on the upper part of the inner or ventral face of the jib extends behind the mainsail and counteracts at this point the depression which should be formed normally over the entire surface of the dorsal face of the mainsail, under the effect of the wind upon the latter. When the jib is hauled too taut, it happens even that the pressure due to the presence of the jib exerts upon the upper part of the dorsal face of the mainsail an effect which is greater than that produced at the same point by the depression, and causes on said face the local formation of a quite abnormal concavity.

In any case, this reduction or suppression of the depression on a part of the dorsal face of the mainsail entails a reduction of the thrust transmitted by this sail to the boat, that is to say a reduction of the propelling force. This detrimental influence of the jib upon the mainsail is the greater the more the rear edge of the jib extends behind the mast, which is frequently the case with riggings using large jibs.

The present invention has for its object a new jib rigging which has been specially designed in order to avoid the above described drawbacks.

To this effect, according to the invention the front edge of the jib is connected to one side of a substantially lozenge-shaped support which is mounted so as to be able to pivot about a virtual axis passing through two of its opposite apexes, the one of said apexes which is near the lower end of the front edge of the jib being attached to the boat, and the opposite apex being attached at or near the top of the mast. Without wind or under head wind, this support lies in the plane of symmetry of the boat, but is otherwise able to pivot towards either side, about the said axis.

Thus, when the wind is not ahead, the pressure it exerts upon the jib causes said support to pivot, so that the top 2 of'the jib is displaced away from the. mast and the prolongation of the zone of pressure acting upon the jib can not interfere with the zone. of depression acting upon the'mainsail, whereby the drawback of the heretofore usual riggings is done: away with.

Within the scope of. this main disposition, the inventionalsoembraces, among. others, theembodiments comprising thefollowing features, takenseparately or in combinations:

(a) The lozenge-shaped support is formed by ropes which are held apart by a spar extending along. theshorter diagonal of. said. lozenge.

(b) The halyard of the, jib. passestover a first pulley mounted at one end of said.,spar,,and,over a second pulley mountedv either on the mast,,near the upper apex of the lozenge, or onv the deck, near the. lower apex of the lozenge.

(c) The side of the.lozenge whichis parallel to the front edge of the jib serves as the stay of said jib.

(d) Whensaid second pulley. is placed near the lower apex. of the-lozenge, the return side of the halyard is used as the stay; of the. jib.

An embodiment ofthe invention and amodification thereof will now bedescribedby way of example, with reference to theappended drawing, on which:

Fig, l is-andiagrammatic side elevation of the jib with its rigging;

Fig.2 is acorresponding; plan view, when there is no wind,jor ahead wind} Fig. 3 is another plan view showing the position taken by the device under a wind other than a head wind;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the jib with its rigging, according to a modification.

On the drawing, 1 is the boat, 2 the jib, 3 the mast and 4 the mainsail.

According to the invention, the front edge 2a of the jib 2 is connected for example by rings 5 to the side 6a, playing the part of a stay, of a substantially diamond or lozenge-shaped flexible support 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d. The sides of the support, 6a and 6b on the one hand, 60 and 6d on the other hand, are formed in the present example by two ropes which are held apart by a spar 9 extending along the shorter diagonal of the lozenge. When there is no Wind, or under head Wind, this support lies in the plane of symmetry of the boat, but is able to pivot about a virtual axis coinciding with its longer diagonal extending between the opposite apexes'7 and 8. The apex 7 lies near the lower end of the edge 2a of the jib and is attached at the bow of the boat, while the apex 8 is attached at or near the top of the mast.

The halyard 10, which is attached to the top 2s of the jib, passes over a first pulley 12 mounted at the rear end of the spar 9, then over a second pulley 13 (Fig. l) mounted on the mast 3, near the apex 8 of the support, and finally descends along the mast and is fastened to a cleat 14.

As already stated, under head wind or without wind the lozenge-shaped support 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d lies in the plane of symmetry of the boat (Fig. 2), the jib occupying the same position as with the usual rigging.

However, when the wind is not a head Wind, its action upon the jib is transmitted to the side 6a of the lozenge shaped support and causes the whole of the latter to turn about the diagonal 7-8, so that the end of the spar which carries the pulley 12 turns to leeward (see Fig. 3) and the rear edge 2b of the jib 2the top 2s of which has moved to the point 2s -is held at a distance from the mainsail 4 all over its height, whereby the drawbacks described at the beginning of this specification are avoided.

The rotation of the support is limited by the effect of the traction exerted upon the sheet 15, which efiect depends on the intensity of said traction and on itsdirection. The displacement of the point of attachment of the sheet on the boat, or a modification of the shape of the jib, by increasing the angle formed between its front edge 2a and its lower edge 20, make it possible to control the leeward position Zs of the jib top.

Due to the fact that with the present rigging the top of the jibis displaced to leeward, itbecomes possible to use large jibs very close to the wind, since they may be hauled taut without encountering the guys of the mast.

In the modification shown on Fig. 4, the halyard 10, after passing over the pulley 12, is not drawn towards the top 8 of the lozenge, but towards the lower apex 7, where the pulley 13a (replacing pulley 13 of Fig. 1) is in this? case placed. In thisevennthe return side of the halyard may serveas the stay of, the jib, which has the advantage of distributing the drag of the jib. equally between the halyard and the stay.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment which has been described and shown, nor to the above modification, and may be applied also to boats having more than one. jib.

I claim:

l. A rigging for the jib of a sailing boat, said boat having a deck and a mast, said jib having a front edge and an upper end, said rigging comprising a substantially lozcage-shaped support having a perimeter including a lower edge, a lower end and an upper end, said lower end being attached to the boat adjacent the deck and said upper end being attached to the upperpart of the mast, the dimension between said ends constituting a diagonal of said support, said support also having a shorter diagonal and being pivoted about the virtual axis passing through 4 1 said ends, and the jib being connected by its front edge to said lower edge of said support.

2. A rigging as claimed in claim 1, wherein said 102- enge-shaped support is formed by ropes and by a spar, the ropes extending about said perimeter and said spar extending along said shorter diagonal, engaging said ropes and holding said ropes apart.

3. A rigging as claimed in claim 1, wherein said connection between said front edge of said .jib and said lower edge of the support includes a plurality of rings spaced along each and wherein said support and edge are generally parallel whereby said support forms a jib stay.

4. A rigging as claimed in claim 2, said rigging further including a pulley mounted at one end of said spar, a second pulley mounted on the mast near said upper end of the support and means supporting said jib comprising a halyard secured to said upper end of the jib, and passing over the pulley on the support and the second pulley.

5. A rigging as claimed in claim 2, said rigging further including a pulley mounted at one end of said spar and a second pulley mounted on said deck near said lower. end of the support, and means supporting said jib comprising a halyard secured to said upper end of the jib and passing over said pulley and said second pulley.

6. A rigging as claimed in claim 5, in which the return side of said halyard forms a stay of said jib.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 758,171 Collins Apr. 26, 1904 1,589,488 Smith a- June 22, 1926 1,813,937 Krussand July 14, 1931 i 

